Eternal Morning
by flying metal child
Summary: In the next world, Kurogane watches Fai and waits for an inevitable decision. Choose life or choose death. One is always easier than the other. Takes place after Chapter 127. MAJOR SPOILERS!
1. Chapter 1

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! This story contains spoilers up to chapter 127 of Tsubasa!

AN: I wrote this because..._EVERYONE _is doing it! This is my first TRC fic but I've been a fan of the genre for a while now. I hope this chapter pleases, since I won't be updating it anytime soon. It's more of an experimental jump into the feel of TRC. Please enjoy!

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"Eternal Morning"

by flying metal child

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Forever and a day. He had lost all concept of time; he felt as if he had lived forever and died in the span of a second. If being on fire was the worst pain imaginable, then this was it a thousand times over. It, _that_ pain, was in his veins, the finest capillaries, gushing and sloshing around in his heart and eating away the cardiac muscles like acid. A deep hunger swelled up inside him then, in his empty heart, and put in his throat a dryness he had never imagined.

Fai did not know what was happening but he knew that a thirst like this would be impossible to quench.

He had no blood and a ruined heart.

And he badly wanted to quiet the appetite that sprang in his gut when he suddenly woke up in another world.

Confusion set in first and the hunger was pushed aside for only a blissful moment. Fai put his fingers to his face to test the skin. He _was_ alive and he could feel. He felt the patch that covered his left eye. Yes, he remembered that clearly, when the clone of Syaoran tore out his eye and ate it whole. Nerves, retina, cornea, lens and iris. So blue and now fixed in the orbit of the clone. Fai knew it had happened but he tested the truth of it by sticking a single finger under the patch to feel the hollow dip of his socket.

Not that he was particularly vain anyway. The only comforts to Fai's vanity were the intact eyelids and lashes soft as feathers.

He pulled his hand down to his lips when a delicious scent entered him. He salivated madly; the fluid washed down his throat and reawakened the pangs of hunger more strongly. What was that scent on his fingers? Strong, hot, sweet and dense like iron. Blood. He remembered. It was blood drawn from Kurogane's arms as he was caught in waves and waves of painful physical change. His fingers had dug into his friend's flesh unforgivingly, but at the time, the pain had been so great that Kurogane had acted as an anchor to consciousness as his muscles and tissues tore inside from a ripping and eating away of his heart to make him reborn mutated and purified.

He was a vampire doomed to bloody sustenance.

He was so weak now; he could barely move. His vision swam and he couldn't tell if it was night or day. The place where he lay was soft, but he didn't know if it was a bed or the lap of a comforting friend. His throat, so dry, made it impossible to speak. He wasn't sure if he would call out for help anyway. Luck willing, he would melt from the burning hunger and die in silence before anyone noticed.

No, someone was there...watching and waiting. A certain person was always watching him.

Fai knew Kurogane was nearby, either in earshot or looking at him pathetically from a dark corner. He chuckled inside his head. Fai imagined Kurogane keeping Syaoran (and Sakura) away with Souhi so he could be alone with him, the newborn vampire. Fai focused his vision and managed to make out a high stone ceiling. He turned his head a bit and saw that the whole room was stone and that the bed he lay in had white sheets and was placed strategically under an open window.

It looked like morning. The sunlight was pale, the air cool and damp. Why they put him under a window open to the elements was beyond Fai. Maybe vampires didn't get sick. He was only sick now because he was so, so hungry…

Fai roused himself. He had to get up, seek out food. He had to eat. Had to eat now. Eat or die or burn alive in these sheets. _Oh, Sakura would find him dead!_ No…need to feed…find Kuro—

_No_.

He let his only eye close. It wasn't worth it. The world was too heavy with hunger for _his_ blood. He couldn't do it, would not do it.

But then he smelled him before he heard the deep question, "Are you awake now?" Kurogane's voice drifted through the room along with the heavy scent of his blood. It sent a feverish shiver through Fai's body and ignited his energy enough to open his eye to see the man hovering over him. Fai wanted to speak but all that came from his effort was a light, weary moan. He wanted to say, "Go away Kuro-tan. Leave me before I do something I'll regret," but Kurogane was stuck to the spot.

"You're hungry," he said. "I see it." Kurogane sat on the bed. Fai was salivating. Was Kurogane going to make him feed? It seemed so. He was already pulling back the sleeve to the black, monkish robe he wore.

What little he remembered from the ruined place called Tokyo was forgotten as the smell of Kurogane's blood came closer and closer to his face. The wrist was pressed to his lips. Fai only had to inhale to savor the sweet skin, so hot and soft, easy to break with teeth that instinctively curled around and inside a small but deep vein. Before Fai knew what he was doing, it was too late.

Kurogane's blood was drowning him from the inside. When the first drop hit his tongue, the fire rolled inside him and was intensified before it calmed. It shocked his body, yet Fai drank and drank until it felt like his mouth was gushing over with red hot poison.

Perhaps he had had enough to be satiated...for now.

Kurogane wrenched his arm from Fai. The puncture wounds stung terribly as he flexed the wrist to knock out the pain; the damn little teeth were sharp. The skin around the wound was pale and cold to the touch. Kurogane mumbled his dissatisfaction but figured feeling would come back to the area. He had worse injuries on the battlefield, much deeper pains, and losses of blood that sent him to his knees.

This little inconvenience was the price he paid for being bait.

He turned his attention back to Fai, who had sunk into the sheets gasping like a fish deprived of air. His pink lips parted with one heavy sigh to finish the elated satisfaction that came with eating after starvation. A single blue eye turned up to meet red. His angel, his savior, his bait and his damnation. Fai relished and despised the aftertaste of Kurogane's blood on his tongue. He sat up in the bed with new strength and faced his friend with a fixed stare Kurogane could not avoid. The ice-blue iris bore into him accusingly, yet Fai did not speak. He let his gaze drop wearily as he turned his head away and said in a low, flat voice, "Leave me for a bit, Kuro-sama."

Kurogane started to reach for Fai, to touch him and shake him awake from the dejected stupor the blood-drinking had caused, but a soft knock at the door pulled him away. Kurogane turned back to Fai for a moment and was disturbed that the man was so damn angry for being alive. He shook off the thought and cracked open the door.

Syaoran greeted him. "Is Fai well today?" he asked in a whisper. He tried to peek through the door, but Kurogane blocked him by shutting the door.

"Well enough. He fed today." Syaoran frowned. "He would have given in anyway," Kurogane continued. "It's been almost a week. He was hungry."

"Sakura-hime wishes to see Fai if he is up to it." Kurogane puffed his chest in annoyance. Didn't anyone ever listen? He had said specifically that Fai would be ready when he said he was ready…and he hadn't said so yet. Fai was too unstable to leave unattended with a princess and a boy who might as well be a stranger.

Syaoran took the hint and took his leave. "Please tell Fai that we wish him well." Kurogane watched the boy disappear down the long, poorly lit hall. He remained in front of the door for lack of a better place to go. This world was too calm and it wracked his nerves after being in a place like Tokyo. Jumpy wasn't the right word, more like anxious for movement and sound. Perhaps the rest of the world wouldn't be so dull once Fai was well enough to travel; then they could follow Mokona's magical "nose" to get Sakura's feather. Though faint, Mokona did sense it somewhere. Kurogane almost let Syaoran go with Mokona to retrieve it, but after Sakura's incessant demand to go with them, Kurogane decided it was best not to break up the group as unknown dangers undoubtedly awaited them.

The door behind Kurogane suddenly opened with a soft creak. Fai looked around Kurogane's body towards the hall and looked up at his guard very briefly; he feigned indifference to his presence, almost as if the brooding ninja were invisible.

"Where are you going?" Kurogane asked. Fai took a step. The thin, knee-length linen tunic he wore made him feel naked outside the confine of the room. "I want to take a bath, if possible," Fai answered. Kurogane nodded and led him to an adjacent room where a stone basin served as the bath. A large copper kettle hung over a fire where water was already on the boil. Fai noticed an old woman in a strange black and white garment tending the bath water. She turned with a smile to the visitors and left the room without a word. Kurogane gave her a barely perceptible nod of respect as she fastened the door behind her.

"This is a religious house. The women take vows of silence so they can serve their god." Kurogane began adding more water to the kettle. It wasn't nearly enough for a bath.

"How long have we been here?"

"A week." Fai gasped softly at the time.

"What about Sakura…and Syaoran? Mokona?"

"All fine." Fai nodded and walked to a milky window. So old, yet still serving its purpose, it offered a view of the ocean from a great, great height. The sand and water seemed to go on forever under the dim morning light.

"And I've been asleep the whole time? I haven't…before today?" Fai didn't need to finish the thought. He had not eaten for an entire week. _Ha_, there was much self-control in one's unconsciousness.

"Ah." Kurogane answered as he pulled the kettle off the fire. "Take off your clothes." Fai whipped his head around and spat a little "No." He hadn't meant it but his emotions were shivering under the surface of his control.

Kurogane growled. "You want a bath don't you?"

"I can bathe myself." Fai crossed his arms self-consciously. The ninja nodded and said only, "I can't leave you alone."

Fai started to say something, Kurogane noted, but those words melted into, "Alright. Then turn around." Kurogane obeyed and listened to the subtle sounds of movement behind him. Soft, naked feet stepping on stone. The gentle rustle of fabric as it slipped against flesh and then, sounding so heavy, a garment fallen to the floor.

Kurogane heard water trickling and splashing. Languid movements of Fai's hands on himself as he cleansed the surface. Was he trying to clean something more? Did he feel dirty for drinking his blood? Was he so bitter that he would hate him forever?

His back turned to Fai felt like being alone.

"Oi, Kuro-rin?" Fai's voice suddenly gained emotion. Was it because no one was looking? Was there a stupid fake smile plastered on his pretty face?

"What?"

"How do you know they take vows of silence for their god if they don't want to speak?"

--

It was a simple question, yet it lightened the heavy mood between them. Kurogane wondered if the dumb questions Fai often asked acted like a tension breaker or something to distract him from stress. After the bath, Fai dressed and followed Kurogane to a small office and introduced him to an "abbess" as she called herself. This religious woman was old and she spoke only because she had been silent for most of her adult life. Now in old age, she was the voice of the community. Literally a mother, for that was her name, Mother.

She had said profoundly, "In God's eyes, we are only daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Nothing more."

Fai found the words to be comforting and he took them to heart. No matter who their god was, it was true that all beings were connected by irreversible hitsuzen. When he came to Sakura and Syaoran for the first time since Tokyo, Fai truly saw them as his children while he and Kurogane were their parents. He felt a sinking feeling in his gut, it tasted like guilt, when Sakura smiled prettily with tiny tears in her eyes as she raced forward and hugged Fai's waist as if he'd been gone for years.

More like died and resurrected from death. Syaoran and Fai passed an understanding look between them which conveyed all the hurt was forgiven. Unfortunately for Fai, the guilt he felt was mostly for Sakura. He didn't mean to be so selfish when he wanted to die in Tokyo. Death was simply a passing from the world and it didn't really mean much to Fai; rather, it would have been a relief from all the burdens he carried. Hitsuzen, as it worked, meant that even Death factored into the workings of the universe. Death was significant to Fai because it wanted to follow him despite all his running.

And the irony was that he would welcome it without hesitation. Did no one understand that the danger the Syaoran-clone possessed warranted his own demise? Fai wanted to confront Kurogane about this fact but he was loathe to do so. Confrontation was not his forté.

Sakura's smile pushed all these thoughts aside. She released her death-grip of a hug.

"Oh, Fai-san! I'm so happy you're well again. I thought maybe...for a while..." Sakura's voice faltered and she searched Syaoran's face for the rest of her sentence, but he remained expressionless which forced the poor girl to voice her concerns and fears. "I thought," she continued, "that you might not live because of wha--I mean--who you are."

Fai smiled and said, "I'm fine now Sakura-hime. What I am," he said softly, "is nothing to be feared." Sakura took his word and wiped away a tear.

She truly cared about her friend, but Fai wondered if that would change in the days ahead.

Because if Fai got his way, he wouldn't have many days left anyway.

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tbc.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I decided to hurry and post this before the next chapter of TRC comes out. I know it will be hard to write a long piece while the story isn't even complete. Please enjoy and review :)

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"Eternal Morning"

Chapter 2

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Sakura ran along the coast of the beach with two small dogs at her feet. A group of young girls her age skipped along with her while Syaoran watched on in silent amusement. It was bizarre to see those girls dance along in their dark, constricting robes; they called themselves novices and soon they would be initiated wholly into the convent. Then they would take a vow of silence and voluntarily lose their voices for many, many years. Today they were all playing as young girls should, and their laughter mixed with Sakura's and was carried over the crashing waves.

Mokona skipped behind them all singing a happy song.

Kurogane watched them leisurely, less focused on their antics. Syaoran had proved to be trustworthy during the long week of Fai's unconsciousness, but Kurogane was still wary and wanted to be close to the entire group...just in case. And there was Fai also, walking along the edge of the frothy water. He seemed to enjoy the quiet of the ocean, though Kurogane was sure Fai had not been around oceans very much. They had all taken the same dress of dark black robe to respect the religious atmosphere of the place (and also because the Mother had asked them to). The robes were a little heavy and stiff, but thankfully the world was quite cool; after two days of being awake, Fai caught on quickly that it was always daylight despite the temperature. He thought that his vampirism had given him the ability to see in the dark, but Kurogane assured him that the world was caught in an eternal morning. It had been that way for as long as anyone could remember; indeed, Syaoran had found books counting thousands of centuries of sun without a moon. Was there even a moon? Mokona was the first to say that Sakura's feather might be causing the phenomenon.

Without any leads, the group decided to stay for a bit while Syaoran read the books, which left the rest to find their way in the local village. Kurogane had been twice very briefly to see what kind of people were there and if they had any kind of army or such. He found nothing but a thatched roof paradise. The next village was three days away, even riding hard on horseback. Kurogane had been wary of further travel since Fai had been unconscious.

Kurogane sighed and shifted Souhi under his robe. He made his way to Fai from his perch on a large rock sticking from the face of the cliff. Above them hovered the convent like a hungry vulture.

Fai had been bending over and sticking his fingers in the sand for about ten minutes. It annoyed Kurogane because he had no idea what the hell Fai was doing. When he came up to the mage rather loudly with an "Oi, what are you doing?" Fai turned with an amused grin and held out a fist full of shells.

"Aren't they pretty, Kuro-wan?" Kurogane frowned and grumbled at the colorful shells. "Kuro-wan" was the one he hated most, next to Kuro-pon. Fai was grinning for some reason.

"Hyuu! Kuro-pon looks mad!" And there it was. Kuro-pon...

"Hyuu! Make up another less annoying sound."

"You know I can't whistle. See what happens when I whistle." Fai whistled a low bird-like noise which roused the sea just a little to make the girls giggle at the sudden change beneath their feet. They ran from the water that washed quickly in and out as churning white foam. Kurogane knew Fai wouldn't do anything to hurt his friends but the frivolous show of magic was disturbing after all they had been through. Kurogane put his hand over Fai's mouth.

"Stop it," he said as he felt a grin spread under his palm. "You're so reckless."

Fai said, "Hmm? Shall I give these shells to you then?" Fai laughed and shoved the shells into the pockets on Kurogane's robe. Just as the annoyed man was about to dump out his pockets (a little spitefully) the sounds of bells ringing came down the hill from the convent. The little nun girls looked up excitedly and rushed Sakura back to the trail that led back to the old stony building. Syaoran followed them but Mokona decided to take a quick wash in the salty water before flipping around like a possessed marshmallow as he caught up with the gaggle of children.

"Oh, looks like it's dinner time!" Fai looked at the green sea and saw the morning sun stuck a little above the horizon. The unforgiving haze made the atmosphere hazy and milky. The shape of the sun was nothing more than a diffused blob of light. Fai smiled slightly at the sight and grabbed Kurogane's wrist to drag him back to the convent.

"Wait." Kurogane snatched his hand free. "You haven't eaten in two days. You must be hungry."

"You're so very observant to have heard my stomach growling, Kuro-chan!" Fai ignored Kurogane's serious attitude and wrapped an arm around his waist and walked him to the trail.

"You have to eat sometime," Kurogane said matter-of-factly before they entered the dining hall meant only for guests. They were naturally separated from the religious group, as their meals were more sacred as opposed to the drinking and chatter of the other poor travelers who happened to have wine already set on the table. The accommodations and food weren't the best, but to a person with no money, a room, day old bread, and cheap wine were heaven to sleeping outside and starving. Fai knew something about starvation as he calmly watched his friends and six other boarders enjoy their austere dinner. Kurogane scowled as Fai struck up a conversation with a man who said he was traveling to his home village some miles away. A poor farmer, he relied on the hospitality of places like this.

Kurogane watched Fai's reaction to everything spoken word. Behind his fake interest in their stories was disgust for the food being passed around the table. Kurogane gave fleeting glances to everyone and saw that he was the only one to have noticed Fai's sudden discomfort at "human" food. The pointless conversation was a way to distract himself from reality--a thing he did with his smiles, but now the smiles were even more forced.

Mokona may have noticed as well but Kurogane didn't care to check the manju bun's weird face.

When all the people scattered to get a night's rest (being still sunlight though), Kurogane stayed behind in the little dining hall. Fai stretched melodramatically and offered Kurogane a happy-go-lucky goodnight and a happy little "See you in the morning, Kuro-myuu!" Kurogane grunted his response and decided to wait several minutes before leaving the room.

He had to be alone to collect the thoughts in his head. How confusing was it to think of Fai...not wanting to drink, dying, and suffering? Was it so bad to live? How could he watch a comrade die for no good reason?

Fai was the most selfish person he had ever met.

Kurogane finally slid his chair back and found his way to his room, which was also Fai's, but Kurogane had not slept in the bed the entire time. He always took up post outside the door, sometimes inside near the sleeping creature to watch for any signs of life. But where was the man now, Kurogane asked as he peered into the room? He shut the door behind him and looked up and down the halls searching. He even checked with Syaoran and Sakura, neither of whom had seen Fai.

"Mokona saw Fai-san going to the beach!" The white bun hopped up and down begging Kurogane to take it along for companionship.

"I'm going alone," he said in a hard voice and that had been the last of Mokona's begging.

Kurogane took the smooth but steep trail to the beach. His ears were filled with the loud sound of the ocean as it hit the shore. For a moment, he was reminded of home and he didn't know why. The ocean was far away and he had only been a few times before being tossed around worlds with all these wayward companions.

Fai was the most lost person he had ever met in his entire life.

He looked lost standing at the edge of the water, Kurogane noted to himself. The sun, still stuck on the horizon, shone in his dull gold hair and made him into a radiant, unmoving statue. So still, Fai's only eye was fixed on the ocean, towards the unending horizon. Did the people of this world know what lay over the edge of their world?

"What are you doing out here?" Kurogane asked. He must have surprised Fai, for he turned with his mouth a little open as if to speak his alarm at being unaware of Kurogane's approach. Maybe this was the extent of his desire to die. Let your guard down and let any enemy take you from behind.

"Oh, Kuro-pon, I was just admiring the beauty of this world."

Kurogane grunted and stood beside Fai. "So…are you ever going to eat?" Fai chuckled and hooked his arm with Kurogane's.

"Let's not talk about that, Kuro-wan. Tell me something happy."

"Happy? Feh. I can't think of anything."

"Kuro-sama is lying." Fai tightened the grip he had on Kurogane's arm and leaned into the taller man's body for support. Kurogane hated this closeness, not because it was Fai, but because Fai was stalling. Kurogane turned to face him with his arm still locked together and shoved a wrist in his face.

"Eat," he said simply.

"No," Fai said with a smirk as he gently slid his arm free. He slung himself around Kurogane's neck and pulled the ninja to his face. Those dark red eyes peered into his only eye with a sternness Fai had never seen. It was the look of a man determined to finish a task no matter the consequence. Fai didn't think Kurogane would force him to feed on his blood, but now that look was put into his soul and he knew then that if he had to, Kurogane would force blood into his mouth. Fai let his hands cup Kurogane's face. Such smooth skin for a hardened warrior. Fai wondered if Kurogane saw the look on his own face. Distress, confusion, want…if he wanted, he could…he was too close for this moment to be something it wasn't...

"Are you going to kiss me?" Kurogane asked bluntly. He took Fai's hands in his own and dropped them from his face, but he did not let go and allowed Fai to grasp his fingers even tighter. Ah, Fai wanted to kiss him. He could feel his pulse quicken and his palms begin to sweat.

"Ha, you can read minds," Fai joked.

"I can't believe," Kurogane started harshly, "that you would do that."

"What? Want to kiss you?"

"No, that you would whore yourself out to me just to keep from—"

Kurogane heard a gasp come from Fai, and before he was even able to react, Fai had reared back his hand and slapped Kurogane so hard that he saw stars. He had never seen such undisguised anger as he had now, _right_ _now_, as Fai walked away from him. Kurogane was left speechless and alone at the edge of the ocean. It only took a moment for him to react and when he ran up to Fai, he realized what he had said was not the truth.

"Fai…don't walk away from me." There was more distress in his voice than he wanted, but it made Fai turn to him anyway. Perhaps Fai would let him explain his poor choice of words. Kurogane quickly ran through his head all the things he could say…

"I just wanted to," Fai said suddenly. That horrible fake smile crept back on his face.

"I like you, Kurogane. I just wanted to." Fai tucked a strand of hair behind his ear which revealed the patch over his missing eye. Kurogane was stunned by the confession and stunned by Fai himself. His beauty, because he was beautiful, even more so when he said "I like you," and then "Kurogane." The way Fai said his name ate at his heart.

Fai said nothing else and started the long walk back to the convent.

Kurogane let him go again. It was twice this day he stayed behind when Fai went ahead.

_One more time,_ Kurogane thought. _Once more and I won't let you go._

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tbc.

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	3. Chapter 3

AN: The last chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!

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"Eternal Morning"

Chapter 3

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Mornings were becoming a pain in the ass.

Kurogane hated the way the sun was always in his eyes. With no rise and set of the sun, he had to rely on the movement of the nuns in the convent. Morning prayers were amplified by the stone walls. Breakfast and lunch were always served right when his stomach grumbled. Afternoons were filled with activities (whatever activities nuns did) and by the time dinner arrived, Kurogane felt heavy, like the day had dropped a heavy burden on his shoulders and would not let up until he slept.

Since the day they arrived in this world, Kurogane kept count thus, and for five days he watched Fai intently.

Five days. Five days since he had woken up. Five days since he had fed for the first time consciously. Kurogane grew increasingly worried that all his efforts to keep Fai alive were for naught, since it seemed that Fai sensed his apprehension and stayed far away, spending most of his time at the edge of the ocean. But at least Kurogane always knew where he was.

Fai couldn't escape that.

Kurogane brought up the fact that they hadn't searched for the feather as much as they should have now that Fai was awake. He urged Syaoran to take Sakura on a casual outing. The boy sensed something was amiss, but listened to the older man without question. The children made a trip to the village to get out of the stuffiness of the convent. There were children their age to talk with, a definite change from the near silence in the old stone cloister. Kurogane made Mokona go with them. He didn't need anything to distract him from Fai.

He didn't want witnesses.

When the kids were only a few hours into their excursion, Kurogane sought out his prey.

Or perhaps it should be vice versa.

"Oi, mage. Come here." Kurogane waved Fai over from his perch on the big rock he had taken to sitting on. He felt like a sea bird pecking at crabs from there. Fai strolled over casually, his feet and the hem of his robe wet from the water. Smiling with a slight cock of his head, he asked Kurogane, oh so graciously, what he needed.

"I want to show you something."

"Oh! Kuro-pipi has a surprise?"

"Somewhat." Kurogane slid off the rock and beckoned Fai to follow. They walked back up the convent, much to Fai's chagrin. He was panting slightly because he was weak with hunger, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Kurogane. Actually, he was counting on his weakness. He led Fai back to their room and let the mage in first and quickly locked the door behind him. Then, in a swift calculated move, he kicked a very heavy trunk in front of the door. Fai regarded this coolly, for it seemed Kuro-pon had planned something very special indeed if he had to block the door.

"Now." Kurogane growled, pushing Fai against a wall. "Now you're going to eat until your gut pops, understand?"

Fai winced. "Ah, Kurogane, you're squishing me." Fai flexed his fingers against Kurogane's chest in a futile attempt to push the man away, but he was tired and hungry and Kuro-pon didn't seem to care. In fact, he pressed Fai harder against the stone.

"You won't escape. You won't use magic. So," Kurogane said, "you have only a few options to choose from to get out of this. Want me to tell you?" The ninja gripped Fai's arms tighter.

"Please do," Fai said with a pained chuckle.

"One. You fight me and run away. Two. You eat and we move on. Three. You die of hunger. Tell me which one you chose."

"Or four. How about you kill me and put me out of my misery." The smile that went from ear to ear made Kurogane furious. That little, stupid promise in Tokyo. Had he really meant it, Kurogane would kill Fai, but it was said out of desperation to get the mage to comply with his wishes. Even then, Fai's cooperation wasn't needed; he was too weak to actually accept or deny the gift of blood. But Kurogane knew Fai would never have accepted it, and so he felt in the right to make the decision for him. Perhaps he had overstepped his position as the rational adult in the group.

Kurogane finally spoke after a brief silence, "I'm not gonna kill you, idiot."

"No? You like me too much to let me die, ne?"

"Whatever." Kurogane ignored Fai's taunting words and pushed him to the bed.

"Eat," Kurogane ordered as he offered his wrist. Fai shook his head no.

Resolve can only last so long, he thought, when one is looking at the thing that can break that resolve.

Kurogane took out a knife and made a deep gash in his wrist. The blood spurted out a little before he stopped it with his other hand. He could smell the blood in the air so he knew that Fai could taste the blood already. So sweet and syrupy. Hot and salty, like the ocean air coming through the window. Fai opened his mouth a little and leaned in towards the bloody fount.

Oh, he _could_ taste it terribly.

Kurogane slipped his fingers off and pressed the wrist to the waiting mouth which suckled gently as the first hot draught of liquid washed down his throat. Kurogane much preferred cutting into his own skin rather than the little teeth making holes for him. He placed his other hand on the back of Fai's head and encouraged him to drink more.

Fai suddenly felt trapped by this touch, so he stopped and pulled away from his prey.

"Keep going," Kurogane said, "you just started."

"Mmm," was all that came out of Fai's throat. His blue eye was fixated somewhere else.

"What are you doing? Eat!" Kurogane tried to press his wrist back to Fai, but the mage, in a quick cat-like move, knocked him down and made for the door. He almost knocked the trunk away from his only route of escape but Kurogane tackled him to the floor and pinned his arms above his head. He wearily let the blood dripping wrist waste itself on the wood below. Fai didn't even struggle.

In a soft voice he whispered, "Kurogane, don't make me do it."

He looked hard at the face below him.

A single tear had slipped from the black bindings of his left eye.

"You're right, Fai. I am selfish. Just eat today and live to fight it another day." Kurogane offered the wrist again, but it was declined by tightly pressed lips.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Kurogane whispered to the man below him. "One drink, that's all."

One drink. No more?

No more.

"It will happen again and again," Fai responded. "How many times will I have to fight you?"

"Does it matter?" Kurogane spat. "Why don't you fight the things that make you so scared to live?!"

He repeated more desperately, "Fight for your life to fight against the things that hurt you! _Don't_ run away."

"You make it seem so easy."

The grip on his body became loose. Kurogane sat back on his feet. "It's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy."

Fai sighed heavily from his place on the floor. He could still taste Kurogane in his mouth. His tongue was saturated. How? How could he do this when it was too hard. He voiced his dilemma to Kurogane, but the man simply smirked.

_Then how do you do it, Kuro-sama? Why do you keep the will to live?_

_Why? To see how it all ends. I want to know the end of the story…_

--

"There it is," Syaoran said softly, "the little island." He pointed from the prow of the little ship they had rented for the day. Sakura looked behind and saw the faint outline of the shore they had sailed from only hours earlier. The wind was strong today and the sky clear. It was a perfect day. Mokona inhaled the sea air heartily and said, "The feather is getting stronger!"

None of them knew the island was there, as they couldn't see it from the convent or the beach below. Strange how they could see the land from which they had come from on the shore of the small island.

"Do you wonder if we'll have far to walk?" Sakura wondered as they began circling the island.

Kurogane snorted lightly, "Probably not far. I've seen palaces bigger than this rock."

Fai snickered beside him. The children walked ahead with Mokona while Kurogane and Fai stayed behind.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Kurogane said as he eyed the forest they had suddenly entered.

"Ah. I'm full of Kuro-pon's blood."

"That's...gross."

Fai smiled and put his hands behind his back. "I'm glad we thanked the nuns for their hospitality before we left. If we find the feather we won't see them again." He sighed and looked up at the sky.

"I kind of liked this world with its eternal morning."

--

end.


End file.
